Needy Danbury students can audition for Logan dance scholarships

Published 1:00 am, Friday, January 9, 2009

DANBURY- Khalda Logan began dancing when she was 3, developing a passion that became the centerpiece for her life.

The city resident was a professional dancer in the New York City-based
Nicholas Leichter Dance Company
and a professor of dance at
Western Connecticut State University
when she died from cancer in 2007. She was 39.
This month a foundation in her name and the
Connecticut Ballet
announced they will give two or three scholarships to Danbury public schools students in grades 6 through 12 who need financial help to afford dance studies.
The money will be used to offer accelerated training in a major dance program in the Northeast, such as a summer session at

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Jacob's
Pillow Dance Festival in Massachusetts.
"To give students the opportunity to dance is one of the small things we can do to keep her thoughts and prayers with us," Logan's husband,
Michael Eaton
, said Thursday.
The Connecticut Ballet and the
Khalda Logan Memorial Foundation
will award the scholarships based on informal auditions Jan. 20 to 22 in Danbury. The winners will be chosen by a jury of dance professionals from the area.
"If we're able to help them out, it will help to honor Khalda's legacy," Eaton said. "The sheer number of people touched by Khalda is very emotional and very amazing."
Brett Raphael
, executive director of the Connecticut Ballet, said the auditions will be conducted like a dance class. The jury will look for talent and potential.
Dancers of every genre are welcome to attend, but proper dance attire is required.
The scholarships will be for $3,000 each, but there is some flexibility as to how it can be spent, based on the students who receive them.
"It would be a chance to give someone experience in a larger dance world, in a peer group, and to avail them of other opportunities than they would find in Danbury," Raphael said Thursday. "We (the ballet) have certain leverage we can use to match the student with the need."
The Khalda Logan Foundation wanted the scholarship to be based on financial need in particular, Raphael said. "One of the main issues was to be able to provide opportunities."
Raphael said the work the ballet does in community outreach and in its scholarship programs recognizes the economic realities of studying dance.
"We are looking for Danbury youth who have not had the chance for formal training or have had limited training," Raphael said. "We will select the students and meet with them to discuss their objectives."
Connecticut Ballet launched a long-term initiative in Danbury in fall 2005. The company offers programs that include assemblies at city schools and performances at the
Ives Center
and
Danbury High School
.
For more information, call Connecticut Ballet at (203) 964-1211 or (860) 293-1039, or visit
www.connecticutballet.com
. or
www.khaldalogan.org